THE LEGAL DEPOSITION OF MAJOR ROBERT FLOYD, TAKEN BY MARSTON G. CLARK, JUSTICE OF THE PEACE OF KNOX COUNTY, "AT CLARKSVILLE IN KNOX COUNTY TERITORY OF THE UNITED STATES," FEBRUARY 8, 1800. ENTIRELY IN INK MANUSCRIPT, IN THE HAND OF MARSTON G. CLARK by [Clark, Marston G.; and Major Robert Floyd]

Single page ink manuscript, 7.5" x 11". Light age toning, old folds [split at center horizontal fold, archival tape repairs on verso]. "Deposition of Maj. Robt. Floyd" on verso. Signed by Marston G. Clark, Very Good. The Deposition describes an annoying bureaucratic mixup. In August 1794 Major Floyd served in General Anthony Wayne's Northwest Campaign. Nicholas Buckner was Paymaster. Floyd owed Lieutenant John Reede $25, to be paid through Paymaster Buckner when the expedition returned to Cincinnati. But Floyd says Buckner did not release Floyd's pay at the end of the expedition. However, Captain Richard Taylor owed Floyd $25 which, upon Floyd's request, Taylor paid to Reede. At that point Paymaster Buckner paid Reede $25 from the money due Floyd for his service. Knox County, an original county of the Northwest Territory, originally extended to Canada and encompassed all or part of the present states of Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, and Ohio. It later, in much smaller dimensions, became part of the Indiana Territory. General Marston G[reene] Clark [1771-1846], who recorded Floyd's deposition, was a pioneer Indiana settler, first cousin to General William Clark of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, and also to General George Rogers Clark. He served in the northwest campaigns with General Wayne, and at the Battle of Tippecanoe with William Henry Harrison. In 1800 he was appointed Justice of Knox County's Court of General Quarter Sessions of the Peace and the Court of Common Pleas. The Northwestern Campaign against the Indians took place from 1792 through 1794. President Washington appointed Wayne Commander of the Army of the Northwest. In the summer of 1794 the final battle occurred at Fallen Timbers. Wayne and his men won. This victory led to the signing of the Treaty of Greenville in 1795, ceding most of present-day Ohio to the United States. Major Robert Floyd [1752-1807], born in Virginia, moved to Kentucky in 1778 and was a surveyor. He was a Captain in the Kentucky Mounted Volunteers; he and his men served under Wayne during the Northwest Campaign. He settled in Knox County in early 1800. Lieut. John Reed [Reede] [1764-1854] was a member of the Kentucky Rangers. His obituary in the Indiana Free Democrat states that Reed was "the companion of [Daniel] Boone in many an Indian encounter"; that he accompanied Wayne in the Indian campaigns; and that Wayne promoted Reed to lieutenant. ["Death of a Revolutionary Soldier," THE INDIANA FREE DEMOCRAT, INDIANAPOLIS, APRIL 20, 1854, VOL. 2, NO. 16]. We are not certain of the identity of Captain Taylor, and thus cannot state whether this Richard Taylor was the father of future President Zachary Taylor.